German nurse charged with 97 more murders

A German nurse serving a life sentence for two murders has been indicted in nearly 100 more killings.

News agency dpa reported that prosecutors in Oldenburg said Monday they have charged Niels Hoegel with 97 counts of murder. The charges relate to the deaths of 35 patients at a hospital in the northwestern German city and 62 more in nearby Delmenhorst.

The charges were expected after officials said in November that Hoegel may have killed more than 100 patients over several years. That announcement came after investigators completed examinations on patients who died when he was a nurse.

Hoegel was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders in Delmenhorst. He worked at the Oldenburg hospital from 1999 to 2002 and in Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005.